


Of Hawks and Tiercels

by flightinflame



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: F/F, Tony is insensitive, always female Clint Barton, and misses the obvious
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-28
Updated: 2013-02-28
Packaged: 2017-12-03 22:42:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/703439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flightinflame/pseuds/flightinflame
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A hawk is stronger, faster and larger than her male counterpart, a tiercel.</p>
<p>For Clint though, being a woman in the life she lives isn't easy, and Tony seems determined to make it harder than ever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Hawks and Tiercels

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Bad language, misogynistic language and negative and stereotypical attitudes to women, Tony being an insensitive prick.
> 
> Partially betaed by the amazing Shadowhaloedangel, but I then changed it so any mistakes are mine!

Clint was sat in the corner of the living room, perched on the arm of a sofa, fingers strumming at her guitar. It was an instrument picked up during her time at the circus, something to do to relax, and it tended to be ignored by other people, which in her eyes was a plus. She wasn't a particularly good player, but she wasn't terrible, and when the only other people in the room were Natasha - sat beside her and sharpening a knife, and Coulson - over by the table, filling in a report, she was happy enough to play. They'd both seen her in far worse positions than this. 

The momentary peace wasn't going to last for long. An alarm sounded, and all three of them moved quickly to get ready, reporting at the jet in under two minutes, joined by the rest of the team. They too had been roused from relaxation - or at least, Bruce and Thor had been roused from relaxation. Judging by the fact Steve looked almost ruffled, and Tony was smirking over at him, the two of them had been roused from something else entirely.

Clint tried to not think about that too much, and boarded the jet with the others, taking her place in the pilot's seat, dropping the others in downtown and then finding a rooftop where she could see the city spread out before her.

Giant snails were apparently the monster of the day. Of course they were. Clint rolled her eyes, fitted an explosive arrow and released it into the shell of one of the largest, as beneath her the battle raged. She called out movements of the creatures to those in the battle below, helping them to keep the creatures contained in a small area. They didn't want slime to get everywhere, but at least for once their opponents were slow-moving.

Eventually, the giant snails were defeated, and the team headed back, for post-mission takeout and drinks. Clint resumed her perch on the edge of the sofa, with Natasha sat beside her, and Coulson next to Natasha. Thor had claimed the carpet, Steve and Tony had another sofa, and Bruce was sat in an armchair. They were all talking quietly to each other when Clint became aware of Tony's eyes on her. She tensed, and stared back into his eyes. 

The rest of the room fell silent as people noticed that Tony and Clint had their gazes locked. Steve coughed awkwardly, and it provoked Tony into speaking. He winked slightly at Phil, then started to speak, his voice a low drawl.   
"So..."

Tony started in that way he had which suggested he was going to cause trouble. Beside him, Steve pressed his lips together into a thin line, getting ready to tell him off for whatever it was he was about to do wrong. The rest of the team admired Steve’s ability to prepare for most eventualities with that simple action. Steve had to spend a lot of time telling Tony off.

 

"What is it Stark?" Clint snapped, looking over at the billionaire with an expression closer to boredom than anything else.  
"Why don't you and Agent here get together? You'd be great, and it'd mean Agent might leave me alone and stop pestering me to work."

"It doesn't work like that Stark." Coulson replied calmly after a moment. "And anyway, we aren't compatible."  
"Bullshit." Tony grinned. "I looked up both your files, and you're both gay. I dunno why SHIELD needs to know these things, but it says you two would match up."

"For a start... being of compatible sexualities doesn't make people necessarily attracted to each other, no matter what you might believe. That might make life simpler, but just isn’t how it worked." Natasha explained, sighing softly. Tony shrugged.

"More importantly..." Clint continued, reaching out to Natasha and squeezing her hand. "You checked the sexuality, because that's hidden. What you didn't look at was what's public knowledge. The genders."

"Phil's a guy." Tony answered.  
"Yeh." Clint answered, sounding unimpressed, staring straight at him. "Phil is. I'm not."

Tony looked at the archer opposite him. Short hair, muscles, military dog tags around the neck - everything screamed masculine. His gaze drifted to Natasha, all curves and smiles, and he thought of Hill, and the other female SHIELD agents he had met.  
"I thought SHIELD had a policy that girl agents had to be hot. You know, the girl agents have a look. They look like Tasha. You don’t."  
"For a start, its female, not girl. And they don't."

"I mean, I guess you're hot. But you're hot like boys are hot, you know? I mean, if not for Stevie here I'd be happy to fool around with you, but I'd be expecting a -"  
"Stark." Coulson interrupted, glaring. "This has nothing to do with you, and none of us want to hear what you might or might not be expecting."

Tony rolled his eyes but nodded.   
"Still...what, you're really a tomboy? You wanna be a guy?" He pushed, trying to adjust his view of Clint. He didn't like things that didn't make sense to him. "I'm guessing Clint's not your real name."

"It's been my name for as long as I can remember." Clint answered with a shrug. "I started passing in the circus, I knew it was a bad idea to be a girl out there on your own, and it just kinda stuck."  
"Still, you could be a bit more feminine."

"I don't want to be Stark. I don't have to be girly just because you think I should be.” With that, Clint turned and walked out of the room, Natasha following after shooting an angry glare at him. Tony frowned, then noticed how Steve was glaring, and swallowed anxiously, trying to work out where he had gone wrong.

Clint walked out to the range, filling a quiver and pulling out her favourite bow, starting to shoot. She could hear Natasha standing behind her, but she tried not to think about her. Right now, she was angry at Tasha, for being feminine, for being everything that was expected of women, everything she couldn't be.

She'd never liked pink, but she was fond of purples, and blues and soft colours. Hours every day of shooting and physical training made her strong, gave her the physique of a soldier, whilst her breasts were bound and her hair cut short to make her job easier, enabling her to bring the bowstring up properly whichever hand she used, and to stop strands of hair getting caught in the string. Whilst Clint would have liked her hair a little longer, she was only too aware of the potential problems there.

Natasha walked up beside her, wrapping her arms around her waist, and resting her head on Clint's shoulder, nuzzling into the warmth of her skin. She kissed at her shoulder blade.  
"I'm sorry. Stark says dumb things sometimes."

Clint wordlessly nodded in agreement, not knowing what else she could possibly say in answer to that. She would try and ignore Stark though. Try not to get upset by it. Most people thought she was a boy, and when they found out the truth often they were angry with her. She was used to it by now. She’d just thought this team might be different.

Coulson had been understanding, but then Coulson was always understanding, endlessly patient. That was how he kept his job. Natasha... Natasha finding out had been a fight. She'd said some things to the Russian that she regretted even now. But Tony's attitude brought back too many memories, too much pain. She knew her reaction was wrong, but she didn't want to just be a pretty face. She was proud of what she was, but Tony was being a dick just because she didn't show off her gender the way Natasha did.

"You're beautiful to me Clint..." Natasha whispered, stroking her fingers along Clint's spine, cuddling up to the taller woman as she kissed at the back of her neck.   
"He's an idiot." Clint snapped, moving away from Natasha.  
"We know that Clint. He is... He didn't mean... you're amazing at your job Clint. I'm proud of you..." Her arms wrapped around Clint's waist, and she nuzzled into her neck. "So proud..."

Clint closed her eyes, lowering her bow.  
"It's not like I tried to lie at him. He just didn't look."  
"Clint. You don't owe him that information. You're amazing. You are beautiful, and you are an incredible assassin. It doesn't matter..."

"It matters." Clint turned to embrace her lover, hand resting on the small of Natasha's back. "It matters because you deserve better than the attitude I get sometimes."  
"It's fine Clint. I've forgiven you..." She nuzzled into her shoulder. "I get that... its hard for you when people expect you to be like me. That you’re a woman shouldn't matter. No one should..."  
"They do though Tasha."  
"I know..." She kissed behind her ear. "I know..." 

Natasha's hand gently squeezed Clint's, trying to relax her, and slowly she began to calm down. Her mouth found Natasha's, and she sucked softly on her lip before pulling away and gazing into her eyes.

"What do I do Tasha?"  
"We'll go and talk to Tony. Make sure he won't... try anything like that again. I don't think he meant to be a dick about it Clint, I think he's just... not good at people. But when we get it sorted, I think he will understand. I mean, he accepts me on the team. And he thinks Pepper makes a great CEO. He's not got a problem with women."

"Just expects them to all be gorgeous."  
"You are gorgeous..." Natasha answered, her hands running up her sides, as she looked into her eyes. "You are so gorgeous."

"Thanks." Clint muttered, but she was feeling a little calmer now, a little closer to human. She could handle this. She just had to remember that she could cope, and it would all be alright.

The two women held each other for a few minutes, as Clint tried to hide her emotions, to calm down and focus on the fact she wasn't alone, that she had love and support. She was breathing more evenly when they were disturbed by a knock on the door. They opened it to find Tony standing there, Steve directly behind him with a smile.

"Hey." Clint looked up at the two men. "You come to laugh?"  
"No." Steve answered patiently, while Tony just shook his head.   
"I came to apologise. I'm sorry, it wasn't right to say. I mean.... Bruce knew, and he didn't mind. None of us do. You're amazing... and I think it's great that you're a girl…woman, whatever."

"What?" Clint asked, not in the mood for any of this shit but knowing that Tony would expect her to smile and say thank you. "No it's not. Everyone always says I'm weaker than I could be because of it."

Tony seemed to consider for a moment as he struggled to work out what to say to that.  
"Well, I was talking to Bruce. And a girl's smaller, and that means you're better at fitting through the vents, and then some of the detail processing and things. You're incredible at what you do, and the fact you're a woman helps with it. And yeh, maybe as a guy you'd have another ten pounds pull or so, but you're already far stronger than most people could ever dream of being."

"I'd still be stronger..." Clint muttered, but she felt a little calmer now, comforted by how tenderly Natasha was rubbing her back.  
"Well, yeh, but not by much. It's not gonna make a major difference, not compared to everything else. And Clint... boy or girl, you're the greatest marksman there is, and there is no one else I want to be on the team with me than you. This team works, and you're awesome."

"Thanks." Clint muttered, her tongue feeling uncomfortably large in her mouth. "I mean it Stark."  
"I know I'm a bastard Clint." Tony grinned. "But I'm not enough of a bastard to throw you and Tasha out because I didn't realise you were a girl, so you can stop worrying and come back to eat popcorn..."  
Clint nodded, awkwardly wrapping her arms around Tony before stepping back to take Natasha’s hand. 

Steve was looking between Clint and Tasha curiously, and Natasha laughed a little, and nodded, squeezing Clint's hand and then kissing her softly. Steve looked away, but he couldn't hide his smile. He was just happy they were happy.


End file.
